Reaction time was everything in the final-round of the 4-Wide Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Bob Tasca III cut a .034-second light that, coupled with a 3.915-second, 329-mph blast, propelled him to victory over Austin Prock (3.904), Ron Capps (3.902), and Matt Hagan (3.895).

Prock and Capps had .054 and .056 reaction times, and Hagan was at .066.

“We kind of felt it building up, like second quad, you see I'm in the last quad,” Tasca said. “I see Hagan and Capps win and then we're going in, and I know Prock, you know his car is running well, and I actually said to the guys, ‘Listen, we don't need to outrun Prock.’ All weekend long, I think we had a conservative approach, and I remember being in trailer with Aaron (Brooks) and Todd (Okuhara) saying, ‘Listen, we don't need to outrun Prock right now. Let's just go do what we do,'" Tasca said."It was a little slow in quad one. I said, ‘Let's just leave it alone, and we'll probably win, get to the final round, and then all bets are off. Do whatever you guys want to do.'"

This was Tasca’s 16th career NHRA nitro Funny Car win and fourth since the start of the 2023 season. A year ago, Tasca finished third in the final points standings, 17 markers behind the champion, Hagan.

And he was thrilled to drive his Ford into Victory Lane at The Strip.

“At the end of the day, we compete to win. I owe everything to the Ford Motor Company,” Tasca said. “I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them. Growing up as a kid, I've always said I'm an all Ford kid and all Ford race car. It's the ultimate honor, privilege to be able to represent Ford nationally, globally, with their fans, their dealers, all the employees that believe in us and we got Brian Novak here from Ford. After how we stunk up the place in Pomona, in Phoenix, I said, ‘Brian, you came to Vegas?’ He goes, ‘Hel, yeah, I came to Vegas.’

“Hey, listen, I couldn't say enough. The aerodynamics, the engineering support Ford gives, us and then we have to go show what we can do on the racetrack. But to be the last man standing with the trophy against Toyota and Ford and Dodge and all of them out there, it's why we do it."

In his first-round quad, Tasca won with 3.920 seconds to defeat Chad Green (3.972), Steven Densham (4.064) and Paul Lee (4.137). In his second-round quad, Tasca (3.922) advanced as the No. 2 driver Prock's 3.907. He defeated Alexis DeJoria (3.932) and Chad Green (3.954).

“We lost by an eyelash to Prock in that second quad, but it was strategy. That was kind of by design,” Tasca said. “When you come up to the last race, and I'm in the car, and I'm thinking in my head, ‘Okay, I'm in lane one. I want to know where everyone is. I tell my guys, ‘Listen, just tell me where everybody is.’ Mentally, I just want to know where they are when the trees come on. And I'm like, okay, now this is epic. You got to get up for it. The team's got to get up for it. The crew has to do its job. And for me, you get to look up in those stands and see all those fans. You get a little bit of the goosebumps. It's like a big moment, and you have to rise to the occasion.

“I knew I had a great light. As a driver, when you hit it, you know when you miss it a little bit, but you never know if it's enough. And then it's a beautiful thing when you see that flashing bulb on the wall. And then to see the time slip and to see how close all the runs were, that could go down as one of the greatest drag races -- Funny Car, for sure -- of all time.”

Unlike most of the NHRA national events where you win on Sunday or you go home, in the four-wide events you can finish second and still move forward. With that in mind, Tasca knew he had nothing to lose when he pulled up to the staging lanes for his final-round quad.

“The thought process was time to go for it. We made some bold moves. We needed now to see what this thing would run,” Tasca said. “It didn't run the speed we wanted. We'll have to go back and look. Todd and Aaron probably wouldn't be happy with the run because it should have run better, but it felt better -- ran better -- early. It ran what we wanted to run early. Didn't run out the back door like it was running the last couple of rounds, but it was good enough. I think what we always try to chase is what we call the package. Can the team, crew chief, and driver together do it on the racetrack.”

In 2023, Tasca just missed a coveted world title, and it has been full speed ahead this season.

“We got a good car. We got a great team. We got a driver that's got a lot of experience in the car,” Tasca said. “When you add that all up, you give yourself a chance. But I will say this, coming back in that truck with Doug Kalitta and Jeg Coughlin Jr. [Sunday winners in Top Fuel and Pro Stock, respectively] these are guys who won a lot of races. This is tough to do. It's really, really hard to win an NHRA race when you're racing one person in the finals. When you're racing three people in the finals, do you know how hard that is to win that race?”

The celebration for Tasca’s wasn’t going to last long because he was going to make some test laps at The Strip Monday.

“The car ran a little bit better than what it showed. I was in a couple, but it didn't run what I know these guys probably would've wanted more from it, but I can tell you this, at 9 a.m. (Monday) you'll know exactly where our head's at because we'll be right here, making runs, and we'll be testing all day," he said. "This team is built to win a championship. We're committed to win a championship, and we're going to do everything we can to do that. No one can guarantee it, but we're going to leave it all on the field this year. You leave with the Wally and back at 9 a.m., (Monday) trying to figure out how to go a little faster.”

When his weekend culminates with a Wally, Tasca said he has less instructions to his tuners because winning is the name of the game.

“No, no more limits. I've removed the restrictions. They've proved to me that they can go down a hot track consistently. Now it's up to them,” Tasca said. “There isn't one loser up there (in the final quad) that's happy right now. That was a big round. That was a big round in front of the world, and it was a perfect racetrack. No excuses. And you're going to go now and get the trophy. And it's the driver, and it's the crew and the package. We came out on top of this race, but it definitely gives you a lot of confidence. They know that the four cars up there are all contending for a championship.”

Although it is early in the season, Tasca has enjoyed battling blow by blow with Prock, subbing in for Robert Hight while he is dealing with health matters.

Following Vegas, Prock leads the points standings with 367, followed by J.R. Todd (319) and Tasca (277).

“We've been slugging it out since Gainesville, [Prock] and I, as far as low ET, top speed, back and forth. It's a rivalry that is built on the ultimate respect, and I can't really emphasize that enough,” Tasca said. “When you look at John Force and the respect I have for him and then Jimmy Prock and the respect that they have amongst Todd and Aaron is really unmeasurable. (Austin’s) the new guy, but he's been driving race cars in nitro, dragsters, and Funny Cars. (The) kid can drive, period, end of the story. So, yeah, it's fun. It's fun out there. It's why we do it, and we'll make each other better. There's no question about it. As you trade blows like that, you both get better.”